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Updated Wednesday, June 9, 2010 9:15 am TWN, The China Post news staff



	Hon Hai Group Chairman Terry Gou takes off his suit at a general meeting of shareholders who have raised a long list of questions concerning the group's new business plans and the string of suicide attempts at the Shenzhen plant in southern China. Gou announced yesterday a policy of not making payments to the families of Chinese employees who commit suicide. (CNA) Enlarge Photo

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No suicide payments: Gou

The following day, another Foxconn worker jumped to his death, bringing the total number of suicides to 10 and the number of attempts to 12; fueling criticism that Gou is “running a blood and sweat factory.”

“It's regrettable that after touring the Shenzhen complex, many journalists still tried to vilify me and Hon Hai rather than find out the truth,” Gou said.

Gou said that after the unprecedented, thorough investigation, Chinese officials did not “detain” him, proving that Hon Hai was not at fault.

“None of the 12 suicide attempts at the Shenzhen complex were a result of poor working conditions or low salaries as has been alleged,” Gou stressed.

He said he would not rule out the possibility of suing media organizations or journalists for their groundless and slandering reports.

Citing surveys in China, he said more than 100 million people in China suffer from various types of mental disorders and 16 million of them are categorized as being in “serious condition.”

Based on these statistics, the percentage of attempted suicides among Foxconn's 450,000 workers in Shenzhen is substantially lower than the percentage of mentally ill people in China's total population, Gou said.

Gou expressed regret that he did not realize the seriousness of the suicide incidents at his plants in their initial stage.

However, Gou emphasized that he has successfully prevented dozens of possible tragedies after his personal participation in the handling of the suicide issue.

Meanwhile, several labor rights groups held a protest in front of Hon Hai's headquarters in Taipei County yesterday, calling for the workers' right to form an independent union at the top industrial conglomerate.

The protesters also asked the government to withdraw the capital investments from the nation's labor pension fund from Hon Hai stocks. Taiwan workers should have the right to supervise the company's management if the fund is to continue to hold large chunks of Hon Hai shares, they argued.

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